‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ – St Ambrose (387AD). But he wasn’t trying to park!

Managers of both local authority and private parking facilities often talk about compliance: that is getting drivers to do what you want them to do when they park. Signage is supposed to be designed and placed with compliance in mind. But you can’t comply with something you don’t see, or don’t understand.

It was easy for St Ambrose to comply with local custom. That no-one was eating on Saturdays in 4th Century Rome was easy to see, and left him in no doubt that was a day for fasting in those parts.

But could he have deduced on which days and at what times you could park in a modern English city just by watching the traffic ? I doubt it.

Local authority signs and lines to show what parking restrictions are in force have recently been the subject of a review by the Department for Transport – an indication that all was not well. http://bit.ly/16jgnNz. In private car parks, too, signage should be clear enough that drivers are left in no doubt about the terms and conditions that apply.

So will we see a reduction in the number of parking tickets issued to motorists who have not been able to work out the local custom? Best advice to visitors and residents in our capital city might be to ditch the observational method and hit the App Store for help.

Yellow Line Parking is free and identifies residents’ bays, pay and displays, and the restrictions on yellow lines. It also shows free parking, and where free parking is not available it indicates pay and display costs.The App, designed by Dan Hubert, is being further refined and will cover all London boroughs and other towns and cities across the UK in due course.

This of course will be dependent on all local authorities keeping the necessary data in an accessible format and making it available to app developers like Dan.